Read Online Diagnosis Murder 4 - The Waking Nightmare by Lee Goldberg - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lee Goldberg
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away from the magazine and watch it all go crashing down? He'd never walked away from anything in his life," she said. "So he found another way to fight back. The last thing he said to me before he got on the plane was that he'd finally beaten them, that 'they don't call me Win for nothing.'"
"What was he going to do?"
"He was going to announce at the shareholders' meeting today that he'd discovered that Hemphill, Perrow, and Nyby were embezzling money from the company through all kinds of illegal schemes," she said. "They killed him to keep him from revealing what he knew."
"The evidence must still be there," Mark said. "Did he tell you what he found?"
"No," she said, dropping the magazines back on the table. "He wanted it to be a big surprise to me, too. I got a big surprise all right. So did the kids. We watched him fall..."
Sara started to cry. Mark stepped forward and gave her a hug. She pressed her face to his chest and all her grief seemed to escape at once, her entire body heaving, her tears dampening his shirt. He patted her back and gently rocked on his heels, comforting her as if she were a baby.
He wanted to tell her the usual platitudes, that everything was going to be all right and that he would make it all better. But he knew that would be a lie.
All he could do was try to get her some measure of justice.
That would have to do.
Lenore Barber left her house off Laurel Canyon at about nine a.m. and drove in her Lexus sedan down to the Starbucks on traffic-clogged Ventura Boulevard, flicking ashes from her cigarette out her window the whole way. She parked in the handicapped space, ran inside the Starbucks, and emerged a few minutes later with a cup of coffee. She then drove a half block west on the boulevard to Exclusive Properties Real Estate, parked beside the five other Lexuses in the narrow lot, and went inside.
She stayed in her office for about an hour, came back outside to smoke a cigarette, then went back inside for another hour, before emerging again and driving off, lighting a cigarette at the first stoplight.
Her destination was a sprawling, ranch-style estate nestled in the low-lying hills south of Ventura Boulevard in Encino. There was an Exclusive Properties FOR SALE sign in the freshly laid lawn. Lenore was met by a young couple who looked as though they'd stepped out of a Ralph Lauren billboard, grabbed the first Range Rover they saw passing by, and drove right over.
She led them up to the house, unlocked the key safe, and took them on a tour of the home.
Lenore Barber never even noticed the Toyota Prius parked across the street. Perhaps if she had, she would have remembered also seeing it outside her house and parked across the street from her real estate office.
Susan Hilliard waited until Lenore Barber closed the front door before she nudged Jesse, who was sleeping in the passenger seat, which he'd reclined into almost a flat position.
"What?" he blubbered, bleary-eyed, his hair askew. He was still wearing his surgical scrubs and had been asleep since she picked him up at the hospital a few hours ago.
"She's showing a couple a house," Susan said.
"Okay," Jesse said, rolling over to face the door, curling into a fetal position as if he was in bed.
She nudged him again. "I thought you'd be interested."
"Why?" he mumbled.
"Because you asked me to follow her, remember?" Susan said. "This is your stakeout."
"I've been up for over thirty hours, I'm too tired to drive," Jesse said. "It wouldn't be safe."
"I know," Susan said. "But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for."
"Exactly what you're seeing. Take lots of notes," Jesse said, and went back to sleep.
So Susan sighed, turned on the radio, and listened to an unbelievable story about a skydiver who somehow got stabbed to death in midair.
CHAPTER TEN
It was a couple of hours before Steve was able to leave the crime scene at Rebecca Jordan's apartment. First he had to report the homicide, then
"What was he going to do?"
"He was going to announce at the shareholders' meeting today that he'd discovered that Hemphill, Perrow, and Nyby were embezzling money from the company through all kinds of illegal schemes," she said. "They killed him to keep him from revealing what he knew."
"The evidence must still be there," Mark said. "Did he tell you what he found?"
"No," she said, dropping the magazines back on the table. "He wanted it to be a big surprise to me, too. I got a big surprise all right. So did the kids. We watched him fall..."
Sara started to cry. Mark stepped forward and gave her a hug. She pressed her face to his chest and all her grief seemed to escape at once, her entire body heaving, her tears dampening his shirt. He patted her back and gently rocked on his heels, comforting her as if she were a baby.
He wanted to tell her the usual platitudes, that everything was going to be all right and that he would make it all better. But he knew that would be a lie.
All he could do was try to get her some measure of justice.
That would have to do.
Lenore Barber left her house off Laurel Canyon at about nine a.m. and drove in her Lexus sedan down to the Starbucks on traffic-clogged Ventura Boulevard, flicking ashes from her cigarette out her window the whole way. She parked in the handicapped space, ran inside the Starbucks, and emerged a few minutes later with a cup of coffee. She then drove a half block west on the boulevard to Exclusive Properties Real Estate, parked beside the five other Lexuses in the narrow lot, and went inside.
She stayed in her office for about an hour, came back outside to smoke a cigarette, then went back inside for another hour, before emerging again and driving off, lighting a cigarette at the first stoplight.
Her destination was a sprawling, ranch-style estate nestled in the low-lying hills south of Ventura Boulevard in Encino. There was an Exclusive Properties FOR SALE sign in the freshly laid lawn. Lenore was met by a young couple who looked as though they'd stepped out of a Ralph Lauren billboard, grabbed the first Range Rover they saw passing by, and drove right over.
She led them up to the house, unlocked the key safe, and took them on a tour of the home.
Lenore Barber never even noticed the Toyota Prius parked across the street. Perhaps if she had, she would have remembered also seeing it outside her house and parked across the street from her real estate office.
Susan Hilliard waited until Lenore Barber closed the front door before she nudged Jesse, who was sleeping in the passenger seat, which he'd reclined into almost a flat position.
"What?" he blubbered, bleary-eyed, his hair askew. He was still wearing his surgical scrubs and had been asleep since she picked him up at the hospital a few hours ago.
"She's showing a couple a house," Susan said.
"Okay," Jesse said, rolling over to face the door, curling into a fetal position as if he was in bed.
She nudged him again. "I thought you'd be interested."
"Why?" he mumbled.
"Because you asked me to follow her, remember?" Susan said. "This is your stakeout."
"I've been up for over thirty hours, I'm too tired to drive," Jesse said. "It wouldn't be safe."
"I know," Susan said. "But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for."
"Exactly what you're seeing. Take lots of notes," Jesse said, and went back to sleep.
So Susan sighed, turned on the radio, and listened to an unbelievable story about a skydiver who somehow got stabbed to death in midair.
CHAPTER TEN
It was a couple of hours before Steve was able to leave the crime scene at Rebecca Jordan's apartment. First he had to report the homicide, then
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